Method of recovering values from flue-dust and fines.



R. BAGGALEY. METHOD OF REGQVERING VALUES FROM FLUE DUST AND FINES.

APPLIOATIONIILED OOT. 30,1906.

I Patnted 001116, 1908.

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INVENTOR rm: NvRms wE- ERS 00., WASHINGYON, n. c.

RALPH BAGG LEY, or PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

- METHOD OF REGOVERING VALUES FLUE-DUST AND FINES.

To all whom it mag concern} l a Be it known that I, RALPHYBAGGALEY, of:

Pittsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and.usefulMethod of Recovering. Values from. Flue-Dust and Fines, of whichthe following is a descrip tion, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing, which illustrates my preferred form of apparatus forpracticingmy inven tion, although other apparatus may be used if desired or thework maybe done by hand;

A troublesome problem inthe operation. of any copper smelting plant, atpresent, is to successfully extract the mineral values contained in fluedust and fines. The present method of treatingfiue dust or finesrecovered from settling tanks or ponds, consists usually of minglingthem with some bonding agent and briqueting them in "special fmachinery,or molding them into bricks and thereafter baking the briquets orbrickst in furnaces. hen thus baked or dried, the" briquets or bricksare fed into a blast fur nace, usually accompanied with ore, and in theblast furnace they travel slowly downwards, becoming hotter until theyfinally reach a red heat, before theismelting zone has beenreached,jwhere alone they can be melted; 'As soon as such briquets orihand made bricks have become cherry red the furnace, the bondingagentis destroyed, they crumble again into dust and in this-form a very largeproportion of their totalmass is driven out of the stack by the violentblast,y

when they again find lodgment in the dust chambers, are again briquetedand are again subjected to the futileeffort to compel them to yield uptheir values in a'blast furnace. The physicalcondition of some oresis.such that they cannot'be mined without reducing them practically to theconsistency of sand.

This is notably the case in many of the sulfid depositsin Utah. "When"an attempt.

is made tosmelt such in a blast furnace the percentage of loss throughthe action of the blast is very great. In an effort to correct this andto reduce these finely comminuted sulfids to a suitable form forsmelting, with, out the losses above described'and without" theirpacking in the furnace like sand so as to retard the smelting process,theyhave sometimes been partially fused, partly or entirely through themedium of their own natural fuels, in furnacesspecially'constructed forthe purpose, into pasty, semi-fused mass. After theores have reachedthis con- V Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October so, 1906. Seria1No.341,33'7.

Patented Oct. e, 1908.

sistency the mass is allowed to cool in the furnace and is thereafterbroken up by hand, into large lumps, in which form they constitutealmost ideal material for smelting in a blast furnace. The objections tothis mode of, treatment are theexpense for labor, the delay, and thecomparatively small tonnage 'thatit is possible to thus fuse, without anenormous investment for such special .fusmg furnaces.

The object of my present invention is to provide a new method ofrecovering the mineral values from flue dust or from lines that havebeen" recovered from settling tanks or ponds or from finely comminutedcopper, gold and silver ores. It consists in mingling all or any ofthese with molten matte, preferably with low grade matte. Inthe processof smelting and recovering the mineral values from copper, gold andsilver ores, described in United States Patent's Nos. 746,24l and74l6,260, dated December 8th,.1903, and in No. 766,654, dated August2nd, 1904, I provide a first fusion solely1for the elimination ofsilica, alumina,

lime or other metalloids and without any attempt at concentration beyondwhat re-' sults naturally from a. simple fusion of the ores. The productconsists of iron, sulfur, copper, gold and sllver, free from worthlessnetalloids. This'first fusion is accomplished preferably in asmeltingconverter and forehQELI'th GHtlIQlY without carbonaceous fuels when suchores are under treatment as contain natural fuels within themselves tomake such a continuous smelting process without carbonaceous fuelpossible. Where the ores under treatment are deficient in natural fuels,I utilize a blast furnace and forehearth for my first fusion, addingonly suff ficient carbonaceous fuel to supply whatever deficiency innatural fuels may exist in the ores. The matte thus produced is of lowgradeand usually contains from to 67 per cent. of iron, and varyingproportions of sulfur, and copper, gold and silver according to thepercentages contained in the ores that have been treated. Such low grade.matte, in the process above described, is

tapped out from timeto time, in suitable batches from the forehearth andplaced in basic -lined secondary converter of my process and thereafterthe iron is eliminated solely by feeding into it, to whatever extentmaybe necessary, highly silicious, mineralbearing ores. 1,

In practicing my invention, I have found it convenient to utilize theapparatus illustrated in the drawing. Whenever I tap out a large ladlefull of low grade matte from my forehearth, I at the same time feeddirectly underneath the falling stream of matte, a stream of fine dustor fines, to the extent to which the molten matte will absorb it. Inthis way, without expense or delay I thoroughly intermingle such fiuedust or fines with the body of molten matte. Thereafter this moltenmatte mixed with the fines is poured into the secondary converterwherein it is bessemerized, and highly silicious ores are then fed intoit for the removal of its contained iron, through the formation ofsilicate of iron slags.

In the drawing 2 represents a hopper containing the flue dust or fines,and controlled by a valve 4, operated by hand-pulls 5. A spout or pipe 6is mounted preferably on a swinging frame 7 and leads to the ladle Sinto which the matte is delivered from a spout 9. The lower end of thepipe has preferably a telescopically mounted portion 10 operated by apull 11.

Many other methods of intermingling 'fiue dust or fines in molten matteand other modes of utilizing the mixed product will naturally suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art, without departing from thespirit of my invention, since What I claim is:

1. The method of recovering values from flue dust and fines, whichconsists in inter mingling the flue dust or fines with molten matte to apoint short of solidification, and then subjecting the mixture, while itis still in the molten state to the refining action of an oxidizingblast; substantially as described.

2. The method of recovering values from fine dust and fines, whichconsists in mixing the flue dust or fines with molten matte to a pointshort of solidification, and then subjecting the mixture, while still ina molten state, to a bessemerizing process and to the addition ofsilicious ores; substantially as described.

3. The herein described method of recovering fine dust. and fines, whichconsists in intermingling the line dust or fines with low grade matte tothe extent to which the matte will absorb the dust or fines withoutsolidification, then placing the mixture while still in a molten statein a converter and bessemerizing it and adding silicious ores tor theremoval of the contained iron; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

RALPH l A (it ALEX".

Vitnesses Gnonon II. Soxxnnonx, ANNA E. IVALLAon.

